Karanam, P.V. and Vadez, V. (2010) Phosphorus coating on pearl millet seed in low P Alfisol improves plant establishment and increases stover more than seed yield. Experimental Agriculture, 46 (4). pp. 457-469.
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Abstract
Phosphorus (P) is one of the main limiting nutrients in the semi-arid regions where pearl millet is grown; its deficiency leads to poor seedling establishment and eventually poor crop yield. Experiments were carried out in pots and field-like conditions to evaluate the effect of seed priming and seed coating with P on the shoot biomass at two and four weeks after sowing (WAS), and on the panicle and stover yield at maturity of three hybrid varieties of pearl millet in low P Alfisol. Overall, seed priming did not increase shoot biomass at two and four WAS. In pots, seed coating at a rate of approximately 400 g P ha-1 increased vegetative biomass over 400% at early stages, and panicle yield by about 50%, over the non-coated treatment, with genotypic variation in the magnitude of the response. In field-like conditions, seed coating restored stover biomass to 85-100% of that in the non-limiting P treatment, whereas the panicle yield remained 25-35% lower than in the non-limiting P treatment, but still 45-65% higher than the non-coated treatment. P deficiency delayed the time to flowering by 20-24 days compared to the non-limiting P treatment, but plants in the seed coating treatment reduced that gap by 10-14 days. Seed P coating treatment appears a valid option to promote pearl millet seedling establishment and then to boost yield under low soil P conditions. The maintenance of an effect of seed coating on panicle yield in pots suggests a positive early effect on developmental processes before panicle initiation
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Author Affiliation: | International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Subjects: | Plant Production Crop Improvement > Plant Breeding |
| Divisions: | Millet |
| Depositing User: | Syamala |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Apr 2011 10:06 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Apr 2011 10:06 |
| Official URL: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0014479710000608 |
| URI: | http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/1783 |
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